El Craneo de Carnero
by myheartstillbleedsforyou
Summary: There were whispers about the new student from Ojo Caliente, Irene Marquez y Luna, before she even came to the true cross academy. There is something unusual about the way she acts, speaks and dresses. There's also something especially wrong with the ram skull she carries around everywhere. Ryuji Suguro x OC. Please R and R. Thanks!
1. Chapter 1

Blue Exorcist (c) Kazue Kato

Irene Marquez y Luna (c) Myheartstillbleedsforyou

...

There were whispers about the new girl with the shocking green hair even before she walked into the cram school classroom with a large ram's skull in her hand, draped with a blue rosary that shook with a loud rattling noise as the beads and the silver crucifix knocked against the yellowed bone. She was a foreigner, coming from a distant country. Maybe American? Some said she didn't know a word of Japanese. Others even speculated she was some rich kid who would have a translator in the room with her. The fact remained, no one had seen her in the daytime classes of True Cross Academy, so tonight at cram school would be the first time anyone ever laid eyes on her.

She walked into the classroom half an hour late with a teacher in tow, looking relaxed while holding up the trembling ram's skull as though it wanted to see everyone. A phlegmy cough interrupted Yukio Okamura's lesson on the proper uses of plant solutions, but there was hardly any need for that. All the eyes of the students were already focused directly on the new kid and the teacher. "Yes Mr. Neuhaus, what can I help you with?" Yukio asked, somewhat annoyed that his lesson had been interrupted. Bon gave a loud snort from where he sat, while Rin and Shiemi were fixated on the rattling skull. The teacher pushed the new girl forward to the front of the room, looking as though he would rather be anywhere but next to this weird kid.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new addition to the True Cross Academy Cram School. Please welcome your new classmate, Irene Marquez. She is a forgeiner and this is her first time coming to Japan, so I expect you all to treat her kindly and show her how things are done here at True Cross Academy. Irene, have you anything to say?"

All eyes were on the girl now and her rather odd appearance. The standard girl's uniform the girl wore was obscured by a gray woolen cardigan with firey geometric patters all over it, contrasting greatly with her emerald colored green hair and her long, pink skirt which went right passed her knees. Red horned rimmed glasses lay on top of her school tie and were held by a silver chain, with two large turquoise rocks on either side of the chain. Her skull rattled faster and the beads clacked together even louder now that it seemed she was about to speak, but apparently it didn't worry her as much as it did everyone else. She simply pulled a strand of green hair out of her face and knocked once on the skull before clearing her throat and smiling at everyone, her worn penny loafter shoes digging slightly into the floor.

"_Buenos noches a todos_, ah... G-good evening everyone. My name is Irene Marquez y Luna and it is very, very nice to meet all of you. I... I hope you can forgive my terrible Japanese, _por que_ um... _Espanol_, er... Spanish is my first language. Eh... I eh hope we can all be friends."

It would have been an understatement to say that the new girl, _Irene_ (to everyone it sounded like she had said Ee-reh-neh), had very poor speaking skills. In fact, her Japanese was so confusing it had left even Yukio wondering to himself if he would need a translater just to get this girl through the semester. But seeing her bright, eager face gave him some hope that perhaps she would understand him and not be a completely hopeless case. He prayed to God that she was a quick learner. Yukio smiled uneasily and patted Irene's shoulder kindly. "Uh... Thank you Irene, for... introducing yourself. Please have a seat next to Kamiki-san and Paku-san in the second row. Thank you Mr. Neuhaus, I'll see to it personally that Irene settles in nicely."

Mr. Neuhaus gave a final glance at Irene as she sat next to Izumo Kamiki, the skull was going berserk on the desk and threatened to fall until she finally grabbed and looped it through her belt, pulling her rough wool cardigan over it. Only a faint sound of beads clicking against bone could be heard. Irene smiled good naturedly at the two girls and Mr. Neuhaus, mouthing a quick thanks to him and waving. The exorcist only rolled his eyes and exited the room, murmuring something about foreigners before leaving the room. Yukio looked on apprehensively at his new student.

"Uh, alright Marquez-san... We are discussing the proper way to cure temptant from ghouls and other useful herbs in a medical emergency, I assume you have the proper reading materials assigned to my class?"

"Uh... um... _que chinga_... Eh... Yes!" she battled with the worn leather satchel and produced the battered, old books which had been cramed inside it. The skull clattered against the chair for a moment before she sat upright again.

"Alright," Yukio sighed with relief and walked to the blackboard, "Now, let us continue our discussion of temptant and the proper medicines used to counteract it. As I was saying before and as it is written in your books, aloe is most commonly used for-"

...

"Hey, Marquez-san!"

The ram skull shook violently as Konekomaru, Shima, and Bon came towards the young Hispanic girl after class. Izumo and Paku stayed behind to watch on the pretense of orginizing their school books, but at least they were less obvious than Rin and Shiemi who were openly staring slack jawed at Irene from across the room.

"Eh... ah... Suguro-san right?" she asked, rolling the r somewhat strangely. Her hesitation was not of nervousness, but rather the uncertainty of how to pronounce the boy's name. She wore a contemplative look on her face for only a moment before looking up at Bon for approval. Bon narrowed his eyes for a moment, trying to decide if she was mocking him. He had apparently decided she meant no harm by it, for the scowl disappeared from his face and he spoke gain. "Yeah... That's correct. Anyways, what's your deal? Where are you from? Why the hell are you carrying that creepy vibrating skull around anyway?"

Irene said nothing and looked down. She listened intently and mulled over each word he spoke over in her head. Finally, after what seemed careful consideration, she looked up and smiled almost like a child.

"I come from America, _pero_ I'm from _Nuevo Mexico_... Uh... New Mexico, like you say in Japanese. I'm from _Ojo Caliente_, _Nuevo Mexico_. _Y mi craneo_, huh? Oh! Excuse me, my skull, is there for protection. Is an excellent judge of character. _Mira,_ look..." Irene took the large object with the long, curled horns and placed it on the desk near Bon. It rattled slightly while she removed the beads, but then violently shook and jumped off the desk and onto the floor once the rosary was completely removed. The large skull rattled farther and farther from Bon and the others until Irene grabbed it by the horn and placed the rosary on it where it resumed its clacking hum. The others must have looked horrified, for Irene quickly put up her hands. "Is a good thing if it jumps away from you! I promise! See this skull is cursed, _es maldito_, you know? My skull can tell me if a person is good by rattling, so when I walk into a room and it rattles, the room is filled with good people since the skull does not like good spirits. Is a very good sign if it tries to jump away from you!" Irene grinned and laughed, and indeed a few of the other students laughed in relief. "_Pero_, watch out if it does not move. That is a sure sign of evil!"

When she said this, Irene immediately made the sign of the cross murmuring, "_En nombre de Padre, de Hijo, y de Espiritu Santo_.". She crossed the skull too, and it tried to jerk out of her hands as she looped it back through her belt.

Bon raised an eyebrow, looking very skeptical and somewhat annoyed. "Ok... Well, I will give you this piece of advice while you're here at the cram school, _Irene_. Leave that distracting piece of crap in your dorm and don't bring it to class ever again. It irritates me while I'm trying to study. If there's too many good people here and no way to shut it up during school time I don't want it here, and I'm sure the teacher doesn't either. Let's go, guys."

The smile on Irene's face faded quickly as she watched Bon exit the classroom. He was followed by a sheepish looking Konekomaru who began to apologize profusely, while Shima grinned like a fool and gave Irene a wink before going out the door. With a small sigh, Irene gathered her things and began to walk to her next class some distance away from the boys. Izumo and Paku, who had not spoken a word to her at all, giggled as they passed her, looking her up and down before bursting into hysterics at her rather conservative, yet ragged appearance. Irene pretended to be occupied with holding up her books and adjusting her knobby socks, but her face was red with shame. Rin caught up with her before she left, stopping her at the door and grinning widely.

"Hey, don't be down, I think your skull is pretty cool! Don't pay any attention to Suguro-san, he's a total grump and doesn't really get along with anyone. He's also kind of a jerk... I'm Rin Okamura by the way, it's nice to meet you. Let's be friends!" he held out his hand for her to shake it. However, Irene only looked at his hand and back at his face in horror before taking her books up closer to her body and running past him out the door, quickly crossing herself again and murmuring a prayer before calling out to him in reply.

"Ah... um! _Dios mio_! I am late. Good to meet you, _senor_ Okamura, _adios_!"

Irene's poor Japanese echoed through the halls along with the clattering of her penny loafer shoes as she took off into the hallway. Various notebooks, texts and pens thumped against each other in her worn satchel and the rosary beads clinked together madly. Everything about her was noisy and distracting, all but the ram skull which stood stark stiff, pointing straight at Rin Okamura as Irene ran for dear life to the next class.


	2. Chapter 2

Bon was now positive that the new girl Irene was purposely trying to piss him off.

He had actively sought her out to make sure that she never brought the skull to any class, be it regular requirements or cram school. Though he often found that he didn't see her much in the halls during regular class time, he assumed she had decided to heed his words the last time and would leave her skull in her dorm when he saw her again that night. It drove him absolutely mad however when he walked into cram school and saw Irene sitting in the row directly behind his desk, her right hand patting the noisy skull absentmindedly as she flipped to another page of her Demon Pharmicuticals book.

"I thought I told you not to bring that damn thing to class." he hissed loudly when he approached her studious form and pounded on the desk loudly to get her attention. Irene looked up only once and only smiled absentmindedly.

"Hola Suguro-san. It's nice to see you again. You better sit down, I think the teacher is ready to begin the lesson."

Bon had gone back to the dorm room that night and punched a hole in the wall.

Now he was actively stalking Irene outside of cram school to confront her about the skull, she wouldn't speak to him otherwise and always had some kind of a diversion to get away when he cornered her in the classroom. After many unsucessful excursions with Konekomaru and Shima in the halls during break, Bon decided enough was enough and nicked her schedule one night during Scripture. The next morning he set out alone to find her, ignoring the comments from Shima about his little "crush". Bon was absolutely confused however when he peered into the classroom window and Irene was nowhere in sight.

He waited the whole of his free hour for her Literature and Composition class to get out and scanned the faces of the students who exited only to be dissappointed when he didn't see her face. There was no sign she had even walked in the door to her Algebra class when he waited outside the door ten minutes before the class started. The same went for her History, Japanese, and Biology classes. She was no where to be found.

"Hey Bon! You find that girl and ask her out yet?"

Shima and Konekomaru caught up with Bon as he growled and begin to stalk off to his own classroom, mubling that she hadn't been in any of the classes her schedule had said she would be in.

A grin from Shima nearly sent him over the edge of anger, "I swear Bon, you're going to drive yourself crazy trying to find that chick. Get over it, it's not like the skull is that loud anyways."

Bon growled lowly. "Maybe you can stand it but I can't! That damn thing is driving me me crazy and I'll get her to put that shit away if it's the last thing I do. I haven't been able to concentrate in class and I missed two questions on the last test! TWO! I'll make that girl pay..."

He begin walking away from Konekomaru and Shima to the last place left to try and find Irene, the Home Economics and Cooking classroom. Bon again waited outside for the students to get out. Ten minutes passed before the True Cross Academy students filed out in droves, the cooking class looking particularly happy with smudges of flour all over their faces, hair and clothes. But there was no sign of Irene's dark green hair among the sea of black, brown, blonde and red that filed passed Bon and back to the cafeteria for dinner. He scowled and turned to leave when he heard a teacher speaking, and only stopped dead in his tracks once he was sure he heard Irene's reply.

"Marquez-san, you really need to work harder tomorrow and go to classes. I can have someone help you if you're not feeling too confident in speaking or understanding what is being asked in the classroom. You don't have to hide in here all day, its against the rules."

"_No me importa_ Sensei. It doesn't matter anyways, even with all the cram school lessons and tutoring in the world, it couldn't help me make any friends here. No one wants to be friends with the creepy Mexican girl with the skull, _es verdad no_? I would hate to bother everyone in my other classes... Maybe I might just leave the school."

A deep sigh came from the teacher, "Marquez-san, that is not the kind of attitude you should have. Just because people may not like you doesn't mean you have to hide from them. I notice Rin Okamura has been trying to speak to you these past few days, there's even that one boy you told me about. Now, what was his name again?"

"Suguro-san. _Y no_, Okamura does not seem too trustworthy... I don't really feel it is right to be talking to him either, since he does nothing better than read manga in class. _Y_ Suguro... He hates me, hates everything about me and it always seems like he wants to beat me up. Eh heh, what can I do huh? Es nothing for me to do about it. I may go and speak with the headmaster tomorrow. _Bueno_, _ya me voy_ Sensei. I can stay and clean again if you want me to?"

"No need, Irene-chan. You go on and try to get your makeup work. Eat something too... It always makes things a bit more optimistic when you have a full stomach."

"We'll see, _adios _Sensei. Take care."

Bon stood directly infront of the doors and barred the way for Irene when he heard the clatter of her shoes against the tiled floor. She opened the doors and he walked into her, causing her to smack directly into his chest. When she looked up, her eyes widened with fear when she saw who she had bumped into.

"Ah! Um... G-gomenasai!" she said quickly.

"Why are you ditching classes?" he demanded, standing looking tall and formidable infront of Irene. She tried to run around him but he took hold of her arm, pinning her to the kitchen doors. "Why are you ditching classes?" he asked again.

"You heard everything huh? _Cabron_, let me go! I'm not gonna get bullied by you!" Irene struggled to get out of his grip, the skull chattering and sending vibrations along both their bodies.

"Why are you ditching classes Irene?" he asked again, tightening his hold of her arm and glaring straight into her face. Irene pulled away again, trying to escape his hold but only making it worse for herself as Bon used his other hand to grip her free arm. "Let me go..." she whispered, thoroughly frightened. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes and the skull was now hitting the door more aggressively, making staccato beats that seemed to match the rhythm of Irene's erratic heart.

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time before I get really pissed. WHY ARE YOU DITCHING CLASSES?" Bon screamed this last part into Irene's face as though she were hard of hearing, making her flinch and cower closer to the door.

"You heard everything, _si_? So why are you asking me those questions? Even you hate me, the _loca_ who carries the skull around and smells gross and who is too poor to afford any nice bags, new shoes, skirts or even nice socks. _Y que cabron_?! Maybe I am poor and I smell weird and look it with my green hair. _Pero I know who I am_! And maybe I am not good enough to be here but you _cabrones_ have no right to judge!"

Irene stopped and cried, angry tears falling and staining the wool cardigan. Her skull was still rattling noisily against the door, but one could not be sure if it was because it sensed good from Irene, or if it was her trembling that was causing it to shake. The two stayed like that for a moment, Irene pressed against the door and Bon pinning her strongly against it while watching her sob. He watched her cry for a moment longer before letting go of her arm and taking hold of her hand, lacing his fingers tightly between hers so she couldn't get away.

"What are you doing?!" she cried, trying to pull her hand away as Bon began to drag her down the corridor. This only made him tighten his grip and continue to take her away.

"We are going to every single class you have and asking your teachers for your make up assignments. Then we are skipping dinner and I'm going to help you catch up and teach you for two hours how to speak properly." He looked down at Irene who had long since stopped struggling and was now staring at him through puffy, red eyes. He ignored her and walked on. "There is no damn excuse good enough for ditching class and I am going to wait for you every day for three weeks outside of your classes to make sure you aren't skipping out and hiding in that damn kitchen. And I'm confiscating your skull until you learn to leave it in your dorm, that thing is driving me up the fucking wall!"

Silence. Irene could only stare up at Bon as they walked to her math class. She watched him as they walked on only a moment before her eyes misted up, threatening tears again when she realised he wasn't letting her go and was dead serious. "Suguro-san... thank you..." she murmured, smiling up at him.

"You're gonna eat those words when I start tutoring you. I'm not gonna be 'fucking around' as the Japanese like to say. Now hurry up and walk faster, your teacher is up ahead."

Irene didn't see his face turn extremely red when she looked down at the ground and smiled through the small tears, her hand settling into his and her free hand clutching his large arm.


End file.
